Today, the 44th President of the United States of America marked his first 100 days in office while speaking at a town hall meeting in St. Louis. The following statements were quoted by several media outlets:
"Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security.”
If a picture says a thousand words, then how great a vocabulary would be dispensed by watching the actual footage of the above mentioned quote? The video reveals the President's implied mockery in the mention of "folks waving tea bags" (which was accomplished with a bit of pantomime, i.e. mimicking dangling a tea bag) while the attending crowd laughed jovially at No. 44's charming sense of humor.
You know, for someone who claimed during his months of campaigning that he wanted to "bring people together", he sure has an odd way of demonstrating it. Call me crazy, but mocking nearly one million Americans who gathered together peacefully to voice their growing concerns about the direction their country is going...well, that's not really bringing them into the fold, now is it?
No. 44 spoke further regarding the protesters' grievances by stating:
"But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act, because that is just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got."
Well, hallelujah! Ain't that the truth! Yes, while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a very large part of the problem...it's not the only thing that Washington has done wrong. And tea party protesters know that.
There's quite a bit that's wrong in Washington... Such as how long it's been since legislators actually listened to the wishes of their constituents. Or how long it's been since anybody in Washington actually READ the United States Constitution. (I have a sneaking suspicion that it's missing...perhaps we should consider putting photos of it on the sides of DC milk cartons. Maybe someone will find it and return it so that we may all rest a bit easier at night.)
This evening, as I perused the Senate Roll Call votes (which you can find by clicking here: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_111_1.htm) I came across a rather fascinating amendment to the ARRA which would strike out an earmark granting $246 million to Hollywood production companies.
Let me say that again, because it bears repeating.
And I will even quote the verbiage in the descriptor line of the amendment, so as to not mince words:
"To strike the $246 million TAX earmark for HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION COMPANIES"
ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?!?!
Feel free to look it up yourself. It's dubbed "Coburn Amdt No 109" / SA 109 to SA 98 to HR-1 (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009) and was voted on by the Senate on February 3rd of this year.
Now. Here's the outrageous part. That amendment which was intended to free American taxpayers of the burden of funding Hollywood production companies and their substandard propaganda-filled movies....barely passed. In the 111th Senate, only 52 -- I REPEAT -- only 52 Senators voted to strike the earmark. 45 Senators voted to LEAVE IT THERE!
I think my brain may explode.
When exactly did the American Taxpayer exclaim, boy I sure don't pay enough money already for crappy Hollywood movies...how could I possibly support these biased endeavors further? Hey, I know! Let us tax payers empty our pockets and just throw all our spare cash at Hollywood. That way they can make as many piss-poor movies they want and never have to worry about losing money on them. Yeah, that's a GREAT idea.
So, yes, No. 44, the Recovery Act is only a small fraction of the problem. Ridiculing Americans who love and wish to preserve their country is another fraction of the problem. Not representing the constituents who hired you to do your job is yet another fraction of the problem. And failure to keep our borders and national interests safe from attack, well No. 44, that's a heaping helping of that fractional pie. (We'll discuss border issues in an upcoming blog...assuming swine flu doesn't eradicate the human race from the face of the earth -- according to CNN and MSNBC we humans don't have long...it's heading your way now! Quick! Grab the Lysol and face masks!)
Now, you may be wondering just where the title of tonight's blog fits into all this ranting. Well, let's take a brief trip back in time, some 232 years ago when our nation was little more than a collection of colonies controlled by a foreign tyrant king. A group of men put together a list of grievances against King George III to explain just why he was no longer fit to rule over them. Below I have included a few particularly interesting complaints listed in the document:
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world....
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --George Santayana
The Life of Reason (1905) Vol. 1 Ch. 12
"Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security.”
If a picture says a thousand words, then how great a vocabulary would be dispensed by watching the actual footage of the above mentioned quote? The video reveals the President's implied mockery in the mention of "folks waving tea bags" (which was accomplished with a bit of pantomime, i.e. mimicking dangling a tea bag) while the attending crowd laughed jovially at No. 44's charming sense of humor.
You know, for someone who claimed during his months of campaigning that he wanted to "bring people together", he sure has an odd way of demonstrating it. Call me crazy, but mocking nearly one million Americans who gathered together peacefully to voice their growing concerns about the direction their country is going...well, that's not really bringing them into the fold, now is it?
No. 44 spoke further regarding the protesters' grievances by stating:
"But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act, because that is just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got."
Well, hallelujah! Ain't that the truth! Yes, while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a very large part of the problem...it's not the only thing that Washington has done wrong. And tea party protesters know that.
There's quite a bit that's wrong in Washington... Such as how long it's been since legislators actually listened to the wishes of their constituents. Or how long it's been since anybody in Washington actually READ the United States Constitution. (I have a sneaking suspicion that it's missing...perhaps we should consider putting photos of it on the sides of DC milk cartons. Maybe someone will find it and return it so that we may all rest a bit easier at night.)
This evening, as I perused the Senate Roll Call votes (which you can find by clicking here: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_111_1.htm) I came across a rather fascinating amendment to the ARRA which would strike out an earmark granting $246 million to Hollywood production companies.
Let me say that again, because it bears repeating.
And I will even quote the verbiage in the descriptor line of the amendment, so as to not mince words:
"To strike the $246 million TAX earmark for HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION COMPANIES"
ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?!?!
Feel free to look it up yourself. It's dubbed "Coburn Amdt No 109" / SA 109 to SA 98 to HR-1 (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009) and was voted on by the Senate on February 3rd of this year.
Now. Here's the outrageous part. That amendment which was intended to free American taxpayers of the burden of funding Hollywood production companies and their substandard propaganda-filled movies....barely passed. In the 111th Senate, only 52 -- I REPEAT -- only 52 Senators voted to strike the earmark. 45 Senators voted to LEAVE IT THERE!
I think my brain may explode.
When exactly did the American Taxpayer exclaim, boy I sure don't pay enough money already for crappy Hollywood movies...how could I possibly support these biased endeavors further? Hey, I know! Let us tax payers empty our pockets and just throw all our spare cash at Hollywood. That way they can make as many piss-poor movies they want and never have to worry about losing money on them. Yeah, that's a GREAT idea.
So, yes, No. 44, the Recovery Act is only a small fraction of the problem. Ridiculing Americans who love and wish to preserve their country is another fraction of the problem. Not representing the constituents who hired you to do your job is yet another fraction of the problem. And failure to keep our borders and national interests safe from attack, well No. 44, that's a heaping helping of that fractional pie. (We'll discuss border issues in an upcoming blog...assuming swine flu doesn't eradicate the human race from the face of the earth -- according to CNN and MSNBC we humans don't have long...it's heading your way now! Quick! Grab the Lysol and face masks!)
Now, you may be wondering just where the title of tonight's blog fits into all this ranting. Well, let's take a brief trip back in time, some 232 years ago when our nation was little more than a collection of colonies controlled by a foreign tyrant king. A group of men put together a list of grievances against King George III to explain just why he was no longer fit to rule over them. Below I have included a few particularly interesting complaints listed in the document:
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world....
- He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
- He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation.
- For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.
- For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.
- He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.
- In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --George Santayana
The Life of Reason (1905) Vol. 1 Ch. 12
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